“in typical Democrat asinine fashion, they are promulgating a defacto permanent tax cut by telegraphing to the public that it is only temporary, thereby minimizing the pro-growth effect of the tax cut.” After decades of monstrous lies about Social Security, Democrats have finally blown the cover off their stratagem. They have always proclaimed that our payroll taxes were held securely in a trust fund in | Read More »
One of the biggest political and policy winners for Republicans is their strong support for expeditious approval of the Keystone Pipeline. Their unified support for this propitious project has provided voters with a sharp contrast to Obama’s casual disregard for private-sector job creation and cheap energy for consumers. Hence, it is a no-brainer that the pipeline issue should be used as a rallying cry for | Read More »
Here we go again. After a full year of grandstanding against another extension of unemployment benefits, some Republicans are ready to cave. “do we believe in free-market doctrine, which suggests that extended UI hurts the economy, or the Keynesian multiplier, which suggests that UI helps the economy?” If you ever wondered why it is so hard to cut spending, and more importantly, to downsize government, | Read More »
There is an old adage in Washington that describes the political system as consisting of three political parties; Democrats, Republicans, and Appropriators. The Appropriations Subcommittee chairmen, often referred to as the “College of Cardinals,” usually agree to concoct legislation that fuses the worst elements of the evil and stupid parties, resulting in something worse than a pure Democrat proposal. This is exactly what transpired with | Read More »
As the original 2% payroll tax cut for employees is set to expire next month, Democrats are proposing an even bigger cut. Earlier this week, they introduced legislation (S.1917) to cut the payroll tax to 3.1 percent for employees, and for employers on the first $5 million of their payroll. The bill would also eliminate the payroll tax paid by employers for the last quarter | Read More »
It’s that time of year again. The clock is ticking toward December 31, and green energy special interests are discreetly lobbying for the extension of their choice handouts, credits, and grants. We must remain vigilant against these powerful interests. At the end of every calendar year, Congress passes a ‘tax extenders’ bill to temporarily reauthorize specific tax breaks that have not been permanently written into | Read More »
The day has arrived. Our total debt has surpassed $15 trillion. At the close of business on Wednesday, the debt stood at $15.033 trillion, and is on the cusp of overtaking our GDP. Overall, the federal debt has risen $4.41 trillion (41.5%) since Obama took office and $6.36 trillion (73%) since the Democrats took control of Congress in 2007. Our GDP has grown by only | Read More »
As the tumultuous year of 2011 winds down, Congress will be facing a number of crucial budget deadlines. Aside for the supercommittee deadline to find $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction (over ten years), they must contend with the December 31 expiration of three provisions of the 2010 tax extenders deal; payroll tax cuts, unemployment benefits, and ethanol subsidies. Now the Washington Post is reporting that | Read More »
By now, we are all intimately acquainted with the bromide that “Republican’s only control one-half of one-third of government.” Nonetheless, we must remember that, in the realm of appropriations, they control the most consequential body of government; the House of Representatives. Unfortunately, almost a year into their stewardship of that body, they have shown only a tepid inclination to defund Obamacare. Despite months of diligent | Read More »
After dithering for almost three years without a budget, Democrats are in a hellfire rush to finish all of the 12 annual appropriations bills. Unfortunately, Republicans leaders are in such a hurry to bury the hatchet on spending fights, they are willing to void all of the House-passed bills, in return for bipartisan conference reports. These conference committee versions – chock full of Senate Democrat amendments | Read More »
Update: 16 Republican Senators voted to empower Harry Reid and expand Food Stamps. It is now up to House members to demand a full floor vote with amendments to this bill. Last week, we noted that Harry Reid, with the help of Republican leadership, is attempting to come late to the 2012 budget game and commandeer the entire process through a series of ‘minibus’ bills. | Read More »
Senate Democrats (and all other Democrats, for that matter) have not passed a budget for over 900 days, yet they are planning to come late to the game and commandeer the appropriations process. After delaying the process for over two years, Harry Reid, with the help of some Senate Republicans, is planning to expedite appropriations bills in a way that disavows standard procedures of transparency. | Read More »
We’ve seen this show before. Republicans propose grand ideas to cut spending and implement free-market reforms; they speak ebulliently about their new ideas, and …they summarily scuttle them and cave to the Democrats. Earlier this year, Republicans proposed a commendable plan to end the bipartisan pork fest of surface transportation spending. Instead of continuing the inexorable expansion of transportation spending, House Transportation Committee Chairman John | Read More »
No wonder Democrats casually disregard our budget crisis. They have a penchant to drop zeros from government expenditures! Last month, Democrat congressional candidate Dave Weprin thought that the national debt stood at $4.0 trillion. Now Harry Reid has filed cloture on his version of the FY 2012 CR that has a missing zero from some of the disaster aid expenditures. According to CQ Politics, Reid’s | Read More »
The Democrats have provided Republicans with a historic opportunity to go on offense against Keynesian stimulus, and apply jujitsu against the Democrat 2012 playbook – Mediscare tactics. They shouldn’t blow it. Last night, Democrats got wiped out in two special elections; losing by 22% in Nevada CD-2 and by 8% in a New York district that hasn’t voted Republican since 1922. These victories were buoyed | Read More »
Well, the first comprehensive conservative report card of Congress is out, and we can now determine which members of the “Tea Party Congress” drink a hardcore brew. Today, Heritage Action for America released their legislative scorecard for the pre-recess 1st session of the 112th Congress. Unlike most other scorecards, this one was designed to separate the men from the boys. Most traditional scorecards, and most | Read More »
As Obama travels through America’s heartland on his teleprompter tours bus, he is touting a new plan to create jobs. While he has offered few specifics thus far, Obama is calling for the ratification of the free trade agreements (FTAs) with Columbia, Panama, and South Korea as vehicles for job creation. The rest of his jobs (killing) plan will be released at some later date, | Read More »
Well, the much anticipated picks for the debt deal Super Committee have been announced. There will be much ink spilled over who was chosen and who was rejected. However, the salient point is not the orientation of the committee, but the entire premise behind the committee itself. Many conservatives will laud the choice of Pat Toomey for the committee; others will decry the pick of | Read More »
Update: Despite admitting that his demands are extreme, Harry Reid refused to approve the stopgap funding measure for the FAA, thereby ensuring a partial shutdown until September. Throughout the debt ceiling fight, Harry Reid purported to be the only true compromiser, while painting the Tea Party as extreme hostage takers. However, unlike most hostage takers, tea partiers made no demands of government for their own | Read More »
Over the past week, the Tea Party has been impugned and maligned with more ferocity than ever before. Amidst our push to balance the budget, downsize job-killing government agencies and programs, and preserve our AAA credit rating, we have been condemned as extremists, suicidal, and traitors. Sadly, most of these acrimonious ad hominem attacks were propagated by those who purport to share the aforementioned goals, | Read More »
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